not made with hands. As that house is never
exposed to any attack, so it never stands in need of any repair; for
that country is never infested by any sons of violence. Here you are
servants; there you will be princes. But mark my words, and you will
find the same in THE BOOK OF MY LAWS, whether you will ever attain
to _that_ house, will depend on the manner in which you defend
yourselves in _this_. A stout vigilance for a short time will secure
your certain happiness forever. But every thing depends on your
present exertions. Don't complain and take advantage of my absence,
and call me a hard master, and grumble that you are placed in the
midst of a howling wilderness without peace or security. Say not,
that you are exposed to temptations without any power to resist
them. You have some difficulties, it is true, but you have many
helps and many comforts to make this house tolerable, even before
you get to the other. Yours is not a hard service; and if it were,
'the time is short.' You have arms if you will use them, and doors
if you will bar them, and strength if you will use it. I would defy
all the attacks of the robbers without, if I could depend on the
fidelity of the people within. If the thieves ever get in and
destroy the house, it must be by the connivance of one of the
family. _For it is a standing law of this castle, that mere outward
attack can never destroy it, if there be no consenting traitor
within._ You will stand or fall as you will observe this rule. If
you are finally happy, it will be by my grace and favor; if you are
ruined, it will be your own fault."

When the nobleman had done speaking, every servant repeated his
assurance of attachment and firm allegiance to his master. But among
them all, not one was so vehement and loud in his professions as old
Parley, the porter. Parley, indeed, it was well known, was always
talking, which exposed him to no small danger; for as he was the
foremost to promise, so he was the slackest to perform: and, to
speak the truth, though he was a civil-spoken fellow, his lord was
more afraid of him, with all his professions, than he was of the
rest who protested less. He knew that Parley was vain, credulous,
and self-sufficient; and he always apprehended more danger from
Parley's impertinence, curiosity, and love of novelty, than even
from the stronger vices of some of his other servants. The rest
indeed, seldom got into any scrape of which Parley was not the cause
in